Galveston Isle Mini Vacation

 Ship Elissa

Pleasure Pier at Galveston Island, Texas

Farmer and I in the Gulf of Mexico

 

Fly 'Em High !!

Which picture is your favorite?

A True Treasure Chest

Due to a mouse that decided to live the last of his life in the only closet in the house...we had to dismantle everything that was in the enclosed space to find the rascal.

It is a pretty small closet but it is amazing how much STUFF can fit in there. It is mostly all of Farmer's family's things. His grandmother's nick nacks from High School, His Grandfather's hats, great grandmothers shoes... you catch my drift.

During the cleaning phase I got caught up in the moment and started going through all the stuff again. Reading Eleanor's Love Letters from when she was young. It is amazing how things really do not change. (comparing to my youth. Nowadays I am not sure if they still write love letters or just send texts?!) After awhile, farmer found the dead mouse so it was time to start putting everything back in a more orderly fashion. He also repaired the hole that mice have gnawed out throughout the years to get into the sun-of-a-gun with an old tin can lid (we are retro!!).

Well, while we were stacking and sorting there was that green box staring at me again. See, I've wondered about this green old box for awhile. It has a big green lock on it and no key attached. I asked Farmer if we could break into it because I have about had it with my curiosity. So later that evening while settling down in the living room he got his stash of keys. He went through one lump of keys but none worked. Then he remembered he had another set of keys that we had found several years ago in the barn. the second key opened the box.

I about jumped a mile outta the sofa.

What could be in there...ohhh lemme look!

It was what I have always wanted to find...

Another stash of old pictures!! More pictures of Sam's Family's Past. And the best one I could find where of his Great Grandfather's Grocery Store in Dublin, TX. We still have some of his grocery things in the barn (dated about 1920s to late 1930s). But never have seen a picture. Maybe this will give us a clue to see if the building is still there. I believe it was on Grafton Street. So next time I go to Dublin, I'm going to peak into the windows and see if any look similar to the pictures!

 

What a find!

All thanks go to the dead mouse!

A Night at Heavenhill

 

Last night I spent my first night at Heavenhill! 

What a milestone! 

This little home has not been lived in in ELEVEN years! The sweet little lady that lived there before moved to a nursing home in June 2001! Can you believe this home has been so alone for so long? I always felt an energy with Heavenhill.

 A type of friendship. 

For ten years I have talked and talked about the day she will be fixed up and we can have so much fun together.

Well we had our first sleep over last night and it was a blast!

I mopped the bathroom floors

took pictures of the interior at twilight

I hung roller shades in the bedrooms & bathroom. Also in the utility room (west sun hits that room pretty hard---I will put up an awning soon)

I am so excited about the upcoming times that will be shared here. 

Spending time here creates a sense of calm and nostalgia. She has been around for over 120 years and has seen a lot of changes throughout the years.

 Good times are ahead and she is just as excited as I am about it all!

Short Bio

I had to write up a short bio for a position I may be
 elected for in my
hometown of Granbury. 

I figured I could share a bit more info to the folks out there in blogland.

Collage of Us

Farmer and I have been together for almost 5 years now! 

Here's a little photo collage of what we've done throughout the years!

*Psst*
Click on the picture
for a larger view

Old Letter ReAppears

I wrote a letter to an elderly lady that grew up in Heavenhill...way back before Heavenhill was ever called Heavenhill.

Way back like in the 20s-50s.

But I never heard from her...I was hoping to at least find the old letter she wrote to my mother. 

This is a little nutty but this lady married my grampa's very good childhood friend. They grew up probably about 100 miles from Granbury.

Ten years ago----somehow the stars aligned----my gramma figured out that my grampa's friend's wife  grew up in the SAME house my mother had just bought! WEIRD!

So my mother wrote a letter to this lady and received pictures and a floor plan sketch of the house from her memory (50 years prior!)

 Just the other day while rummaging through the barn at Heavenhill...this letter fell out of a folder. It was the letter I was hoping to find. I had gone through that folder before but never saw it. I feel like the universe heard my wish and found it for me. Things like that happen to me..does it happen to you?

Just Call Me McGyverette

I have been working full time at HH and we are at the trim & tile stage! 

I got a group of guys that have been very diligent and hard working. I am very impressed with what has gone down in the past couple of day. I do have my frustrating days (i.e. this Monday and Tuesday!) but I am now very pleased with the progress. 

I suppose I get most frustrated when I am working at HH alone and things are just not working out so well. I work better with other people...not necessarily helping me, but I just like to have the distraction and a bit of convo here and there. It helps!  

 

We have been reusing material that came out of HH and also from the barn on site. I think it's lotsa fun to find and seek old wood that will work for trim or for this or that. I also enjoy seeing the inventory pile decreasing bit by bit. More room for other stuff! 

We are in need of a couple more pieces of trim for the windows. Farmer has a couple of houses on his property that are falling down. (side note: a house mover used to own part of his land and "inventoried" buildings on the property). So I drove the four-wheeler over to "Perts" to go scrounging. I had a lot of fun (had to keep my eyes peeled for snakes!) and found some great trim...it is amazing how your eyes see new things now that I am in the trim business. I never noticed a lot of good stuff that are in those houses. They are a little scary b/c they could fall down any time...i wish we could salvage more stuff out of it before it falls. (but that's another story!)

I was quite the site going down the county road with my 1X4s. I even had to get creative and McGyver-ish to keep the boards from falling off the four-wheeler. 

Good thing I wore my trusty head scarf today! 

I also found some wire on the ground by the gate that I picked up in habit..but then I thought... Perfect! 

This can hold the other lumber in place! Just tie it to the milk crate and we are in business! 

I had somebody pass me on the road..I bet they thought I was a nut!